Video: Changing a PivotChart layout

When you create a PivotChart, Excel uses a basic layout to determine when and where to display elements. Those elements can include the chart title, a legend representing the data series, and axis titles and labels. The basic layout Excel uses is probably good enough for a quick look at your data, but you will most likely want to change how your PivotChart's elements are arranged before you share your chart with your colleagues. For example, Excel comes with a gallery of chart layouts from which to choose. You can display those layouts by clicking your PivotChart and then on the Design contextual tab, clicking the More button at the bottom right corner of the Chart Layouts gallery.

In Excel 2010: Pivot Tables in Depth, author Curt Frye provides comprehensive, hands-on tutorials on Excel PivotTables, including more advanced techniques such as using macros and the new PowerPivot add-in. The course shows how to connect and consolidate data sources to power PivotTables, sort and filter records, display data in a PivotChart, print tables and charts, and also introduces the DAX language for performing advanced summaries in PowerPivot. Exercise files are included with the course.

Changing a PivotChart layout

When you create a PivotChart, Excel uses a basic layout to determine when andwhere to display elements.Those elements can include the chart title, a legend representing the dataseries, and axis titles and labels.The basic layout Excel uses is probably good enough for a quick look at your data,but you will most likely want to change how your PivotChart's elements arearranged before you share your chart with your colleagues.For example, Excel comes with a gallery of chart layouts from which to choose.You can display those layouts by clicking your PivotChart and then on theDesign contextual tab, clicking the More button at the bottom right corner ofthe Chart Layouts gallery.

Then you can click the layout that you want to apply.For this example I'll just click the top left, which is layout number one, andwhen I do Excel changes the chart's layout.Even if the layout you choose includes elements such as a title or legend, thoseitems either won't appear or will display a placeholder, in this case Chart Title,if the PivotChart's arrangement doesn't supply a value for that element.In this example, I'm summarizing the data using a column chart and havecompany in the Axis Fields area in here in the Legend Fields area, the defaultPivotChartLayout won't display a chart title unless I created it myself. So how to do that?Well, to edit your chart element, you can click it to select it and then you canmove the mouse pointer over the edge of the item and then drag it to any placethat you like on the PivotChart, and then if you want to undo something, you canjust press Ctrl+Z and I'll press Ctrl+Z again to put the chart title back in itsoriginal place, and then you can edit the text by selecting the text and thenchanging it to Company by Year, and then if you click the item to select it youcan use the tools on the Home tab to change the formatting of the text.

So let's say for example that I want to make the text a little bit larger. Make it 24 point.I can do that using the tools that you're familiar with from your regular use of Excel.You can also delete a chart element and while I have my chart title selected ifI press the Delete key, it goes away.However, if I reapply the layout I had before by clicking Chart Layouts inthe Layout 1, then the chart title element comes back, but the previous value is lost.If you want more fine-grained control over your PivotChart's layout, then youcan click the PivotChart and then click the Layout contextual tab on the Ribbon,and doing so allows you to change many different aspects of your chart.

For example, you can add axis titles to the PivotChart.To do that you click Axis Titles button, which is here, and then select whetherand how to display the Horizontal or Vertical Axis Title.So we'll look at the Horizontal Axis and then you can either display it as Noneor the Title Below the Axis.I'll choose that second option, and you see that we have an Axis Title and inthis case that is the year.So I will select the text inside the chart element and type year.

You should take the time to experiment with the built-in layouts available foryou to use with Excel PivotCharts.You might discover that most of your design work has already been done.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

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Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
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